Trying to get some work done before the end of summer? Need something to keep the kids busy on a rainy day?  Here is a short list of some really cool kids' sites.

• www.funology.com
• www.kidsites.com
• www.funtrivia.com
•  www.ajkids.com - The kid version of Ask Jeeves search
• www.disney.com
• harpercollinschildrens.com/harperchildrens/ (games & coloring)
• kids.nationalgeographic.com
• www.timeforkids.com/TFK/go places
• kids.yahoo.com
• www.nick.com
• www.factmonster.com
• www.scholastic.com/ispy/
• www.nwf.org/kids/ (National Wildlife Foundation)

How kids influence web purchases...

Web sites that market to children (and their parents) may require a different focus.  They have to be fun, educational, and capture interest immediately.  If your business caters to parents and their children - party suppliers, resort hotels, cruise lines, daycare providers, tutoring, zoos & animal parks, play equipment vendors, children's clothing, or toys for example - it may make sense to have a children's "play area" on your web site too - with games, puzzles, animals,  and stories with topics interesting to the age group you are targeting.  Flash games are fantastic for interactive and lively website design.  Don't under estimate the value of keeping your younger customers happy - they may be more computer savvy than their parents.  Today kids have a dramatic impact on their families' purchasing decisions and a smart company will tap their purchasing power and influence.

What is DNS?  Once your web site is built, next step is to point the domain name server to where it's stored (DNS). DNS is the mailman. All web sites have an IP number that is something like an address. Perhaps you live at 222 West Street - but everyone knows your house as the "Flower lady's house" in your neighborhood. That's a simplified explanation of how DNS works. Whereas your website's IP address may be 129.133.11.40 - there are servers out there that change that number into a name - www.yourname.com. When your visitors put www.yourname.com into their browser, it will automatically reroute them to 129.133.11.40 - your REAL address.

And just to make things more complicated - your real address can change every few hours or days - imagine the problems that would cause for a human mailman! However in the high-speed world of computer on the internet, it's no big deal. Using a routing table, computers instantly keep track of what information is going where even if the address changes several times a day. 

So why isn't your site instantly available the second the web designer completes it?  Because you have to have your address entered into that routing table.  That can take up to 48 hours, or longer depending on if the site uses secure certificates, has multiple names, or something else that uses DNS and must also resolve to the new address.  The Internet is amazing when you consider how much of your mail you'd actually get if you moved every few hours in real life.

Have you been to PC HELL - this wonderful site will help you troubleshoot many Windows problems - from Post errors (no beeps or too many beeps when your computer starts - you should only hear ONE beep) to software tips, tricks and fixes. Spyware, Viruses, Windows issues, and more. 

Don't forget - even if you don't need a website yourself, you can refer a friend! Earn up to $100 cash for each referral that becomes a new customer.  Register Here 

It doesn't matter where you or your friend is located, we can work with clients wherever they are -  by email, phone and fax. We are in Michigan, and have satisfied customers worldwide.  Visit our website at http://c-omalley.com.

What do our customers say about us?

Copyrights

How often have you heard, I just got that logo or photo off the internet for my website...well, you may be violating copyright laws if you do.

10 Big Myths about Copyright explained

Curious if someone has stolen your content? You can search Copyscape.com for pages with plagiarized content. 

If you have photos on your site, the best way to protect them is with Flash - and that's not foolproof, since there are decoders that may be able to extract your photo content.  Using a watermark, thumbnail and other methods such as scripts may work well enough for most site owners, though these are easy to get around for a savvy surfer. Not allowing right clicks doesn't protect anything - all it does it make it a little more difficult to find the desired photo on their hard drive.  Once a page loads, it has already been downloaded so it's just a matter of searching their hard drive for the desired file.

One way to protect media such as a movie clip is to "stream" it - so that the entire clip is not downloaded all at once - it's sent piece by piece so the entire file is never available - just a tiny bit of it. 

Site Builders & Hiding the Code

Have you considered a do-it-yourself site? Most people have.  What they don't realize is many site builders use scripts or frames to hide  the code of your page.  When a user looks at the behind-the-scenes code they often see nothing -this is typically done so the site builder's scripts aren't  visible and open to theft.  However, when you build a site with a site builder that "hides" or encrypts your code, it may protect your images and text, but it's also hiding it from search engines - making your site invisible to them.  Usually that is not what you'd hoped for.  Many free site-builders employ these techniques - and while you may get a free site you can build yourself - you also get an invisible one.  Now you know why your competitor is highly ranked and gets all the traffic! If you build a personal site about your pets and children for friends and family, that's fine, but for a business site - you might as well not have a site at all. Having a web developer build it properly will pay for itself in increased views and revenue.

Vertical Search Engines (VSEs) for Business to Business (B2B) searches

General Internet search engines like Google & Yahoo were not designed as business tools.  A VSE is a search engine with a specific target industry - such as roofers or art suppliers.  B2B firms can often get better results by submitting sites to VSEs and directories in their specific trade than to Google or Yahoo.  The right online VSE community will have these features:

• Industry focus in ONE industry with seasoned managers having years of experience in the market.
• Free, Pertinent Content - because VSEs often own trade publications, and have partnerships with trade shows and employ editors to cover all industry aspects. 
• Interactive Features - such as soliciting feedback and sharing the input of their users. Comment sections, blogs, article submission opportunities and reciprocal links increase a site's prominence and provide stickiness (stickiness is the ability to keep people on your site).
• Numerous, Qualified Members - Ensure that their stats add up and make sure they validate the amount of qualified traffic they send to businesses. It's not good to be the only one listed - but it's just as bad to be buried by thousands of competitors too.
• Results-Based Marketing Services - VSEs should be focused on their customers - and offer a wide variety of programs such as email marketing, ad space, and banner opportunities. They should have well negotiated rates and a responsive customer service team. They exist to help YOU, not themselves.

VSEs provide a strong alternative search - and can go a long way toward providing professionals with relevant business results as well as helping advertisers and marketers target a very specific and relevant audience.